 Rivera,c. 1979 | |
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Born | (1944-05-25)May 25, 1944 (age 81) |
| Professional wrestling career | |
| Ring name(s) | Rico Pantera[1] Vic Rivera[1] Víctor Rivera[1] |
| Billed height | 6 ft 0 in (183 cm)[1] |
| Billed weight | 224 lb (102 kg)[1] |
| Billed from | Philadelphia, Pennsylvania San Lorenzo, Puerto Rico |
| Debut | 1964[1] |
| Retired | 1984[1] |
Víctor Rivera (born May 25, 1944) is a Puerto Rican retiredprofessional wrestler. Worked for theWorld Wrestling Federation from 1964 to 1984 on numerous occasions.[3] Between 1967 and 1981, he held theNWA Americas Tag Team Championship thirteen times, theNWA Americas Heavyweight Championship five times, theWWWF International Tag Team Championship, and numerous others.
Rivera debuted in 1964 for the World Wide Wrestling Federation.[1]
In the late 1960s, Rivera wrestled in Los Angeles'Worldwide Wrestling Associates (which later became NWA Hollywood Wrestling in 1968), where he won theWWA World Tag Team Championship withPedro Morales.
Rivera made his debut in the World Wide Wrestling Federation in 1968. In December 1969, Rivera teamed withTony Marino at Madison Square Garden to win the WWWF International Tag Team Championship in two straight falls fromProfessor Toru Tanaka andMitsu Arakawa. Rivera and Marino defended the belts successfully against teams likeKiller Kowalski andWaldo Von Erich, as well as Kowalski and Krippler Karl Kovacs. They lost the championship to another undefeated team, The Mongols (Bepo andGeto Mongol) on June 15, 1970, two falls to one at Madison Square Garden. On May 13, 1975, Rivera andDominic DeNucci won theWWWF World Tag Team Championship fromThe Valiant Brothers.[4] That year, he also teamed with a rookieDino Bravo to challenge The Mongols (Geto andBolo Mongol) for the IWA World Tag Team Championship.
After leaving the WWWF, Rivera feuded with Pedro Morales in Hawaii and California.[5] He also worked for in Japan. In 1978, he returned as a heel under manager"Classy" Freddie Blassie and challengedBob Backlund for the WWWF Championship in several arenas, including the Philadelphia Spectrum. He left again in 1979. In 1980, Rivera was once again wrestling in the Los Angeles territory of theNational Wrestling Alliance, when he wonits NWA World Tag Team Championship with Enforcer Luciano. In 1981, Rivera returned to Japan.
Then in 1982, Riviera returned to WWWF now WWF worked as an enhancement talent until 1984 when he retired from wrestling.[1]
Rivera wrestled in a "technical" style.[1] His signature moves were theabdominal stretch,[2] thecannonball,[1] and thedropkick.[1]